Thanks … but no thanks

It is painfully obvious that Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar, Rep. Diana DeGette, Mayor John Hickenlooper, DNC host committee chair Elba Wedgeworth, and attorney Steve Farber ran an expensive full-page, full-color ad (Sept. 7 Denver Post) in order to provide political cover for the Obama campaign. Barack Obama has been widely criticized for dissing Denver by not thanking the city or even recognizing its role in hosting the Democratic National Convention.

When Obama took the stage at Invesco Field, he proceeded to lecture one and all as to how we should live our lives, what our priorities should be, what constitutes patriotism, which industries should be winners and losers, how many languages we should speak, what kind of car we should drive, what foods we should eat, who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, and who will live and who will die. The only thing he didn’t do was recognize all that Denver did for him.

I have just witnessed, with the receipt of a strategically-timed and inflammatory DVD, the depths to which some politicians will stoop to be elected.

How did we end up in Iraq? The Bush administration convinced the public and Congress that Saddam Hussein was out to get us, that his possession and use of “weapons of mass destruction” was imminent. This public brainwashing was perpetrated in spite of the fact that there were weapons inspectors who had visited Iraq and found no supporting evidence of this assertion. One such investigator, Scott Ritter, had once criticized the Clinton administration for not being tough enough on Iraq. In 2002, prior to the U.S. invasion, Mr. Ritter very publicly went on record saying that there were no WMD’s in Iraq. The point is that our elected leaders used propaganda to mislead us into sitting back while they invaded another country, overthrew a leader who we had helped bring to power with funding, arms, and CIA connections beginning as early as 1959 and continuing into the early 1980’s with the Reagan administration.

Now, the “mavericks” McCain and Palin are strategically using the same fear-mongering propaganda to ooze their way into the White House. First, they played clips of the September 11th attack at their Republican Convention. During her rare interview with Charlie Gibson, amongst questions about the economy, Palin made sure to mention how wary we must be of Islamic terrorism. Now, the battleground states are being flooded with a DVD mailing (Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West) intended to promote fear. It’s full of scenes of 9-11, bloody images, and angry-looking crowds chanting in a language few Americans understand. One of the film’s touted experts, Itamar Marcus, espouses, “That’s the purpose of the Islamic’s propaganda. It’s to make the people angry, hateful against the West…to be willing to fight them.”

It would appear that this is precisely the tact that the Republicans are currently using. Once again, they are attempting to make Americans angry and fearful of Muslims so that we will be anxious to fight them and be more apt to elect a warrior rather than a diplomat to our highest office. After the past eight years, still embroiled in an unfounded war, do we REALLY want another warrior rather than a president with strong diplomatic skills and the wisdom to know when to use words and when to use force? Will we as a nation fall for this old diversionary tactic once again?

Cathy Letts

I have just witnessed, with the receipt of a strategically-timed and inflammatory DVD, the depths to which some politicians will stoop to be elected.

How did we end up in Iraq? The Bush administration convinced the public and Congress that Saddam Hussein was out to get us, that his possession and use of “weapons of mass destruction” was imminent. This public brainwashing was perpetrated in spite of the fact that there were weapons inspectors who had visited Iraq and found no supporting evidence of this assertion. One such investigator, Scott Ritter, had once criticized the Clinton administration for not being tough enough on Iraq. In 2002, prior to the U.S. invasion, Mr. Ritter very publicly went on record saying that there were no WMD’s in Iraq. The point is that our elected leaders used propaganda to mislead us into sitting back while they invaded another country, overthrew a leader who we had helped bring to power with funding, arms, and CIA connections beginning as early as 1959 and continuing into the early 1980’s with the Reagan administration.

Now, the “mavericks” McCain and Palin are strategically using the same fear-mongering propaganda to ooze their way into the White House. First, they played clips of the September 11th attack at their Republican Convention. During her rare interview with Charlie Gibson, amongst questions about the economy, Palin made sure to mention how wary we must be of Islamic terrorism. Now, the battleground states are being flooded with a DVD mailing (Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West) intended to promote fear. It’s full of scenes of 9-11, bloody images, and angry-looking crowds chanting in a language few Americans understand. One of the film’s touted experts, Itamar Marcus, espouses, “That’s the purpose of the Islamic’s propaganda. It’s to make the people angry, hateful against the West…to be willing to fight them.”

It would appear that this is precisely the tact that the Republicans are currently using. Once again, they are attempting to make Americans angry and fearful of Muslims so that we will be anxious to fight them and be more apt to elect a warrior rather than a diplomat to our highest office. After the past eight years, still embroiled in an unfounded war, do we REALLY want another warrior rather than a president with strong diplomatic skills and the wisdom to know when to use words and when to use force? Will we as a nation fall for this old diversionary tactic once again?

zivo24

I was at Invesco Field, Dennis, and none of the things that you claim Obama “lectured” about are true.

You’ve gone beyond exaggerating to make your point..you’re letter is complete fiction for the purpose of misleading.

And frankly, speaking as third generation native of this great city, who stays here because I love it so much..that he forgot to relish praise on our city doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I care more about whether the next president is going to do about the economy, the war, health care, etc.

Your letter is just another example of republicans trying to distract us with trivial crap because they don’t want to talk about the real issues….because their candidate doesn’t have any real solutions to those issues.

zivo24

I was at Invesco Field, Dennis, and none of the things that you claim Obama “lectured” about are true.

You’ve gone beyond exaggerating to make your point..you’re letter is complete fiction for the purpose of misleading.

And frankly, speaking as third generation native of this great city, who stays here because I love it so much..that he forgot to relish praise on our city doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I care more about whether the next president is going to do about the economy, the war, health care, etc.

Your letter is just another example of republicans trying to distract us with trivial crap because they don’t want to talk about the real issues….because their candidate doesn’t have any real solutions to those issues.

Romulus

Poor babies. Obama forgot to thank us by invoking the name of our city. How will we ever recover from this dreadful shock?

Romulus

Poor babies. Obama forgot to thank us by invoking the name of our city. How will we ever recover from this dreadful shock?

hoopoe36

I, too, received the offensive DVD ‘Obsession. I can’t believe the Rocky/Post is so starved for revenue to distribute this hateful propoganda. It’s not just a product sample or ‘ad’; it’s a piece of political propaganda produced by anti-Muslim bigots. Does a box of cereal or a tube of toothpaste encourage me to look with hatred and suspicion on my law abiding neighbors who have a different religion than mine? Does cereal and toothpaste lead to pogroms, religious harassment, fear and intimidation? The trailer for this video is about hate, pure and simple, and shows the video has only one goal – to instill fear and hatred of neighbor against neighbor.
It’s partially the work of hate-monger Daniel Pipes, who runs one of the most rabidly anti-Muslim websites on the internet. He’s a neocon and hardcore Zionist and can hardly be called an evangelical. The DVD also credits Alan Dershowitz, apologist for Bush administration torture, a neocon and Zionist whose book, ‘The Case for Israel’, was exposed by Norman Finkelstein, as full of lies and distortions. Finkelstein subsequently was denied tenure at his university, mostly due to an orchestrated smear campaign led by Dershowitz himself.
In the context of the current election, the DVD can be seen as an attempt to move the swing state vote in the direction of McCain. However, one day after his acceptance speech in Denver, Obama engaged in a nauseating display of fealty to AIPAC, Israel’s main lobbying group in the US. I personally see this DVD, in addition to its immediate election purposes, is an attempt to stir up widespread paranoia about the Muslim world in support of a campaign for military action against Iran. In this regard, it is as pernicious as the lies of the Bush administration regarding Iraq leading up to that war. I can only hope the American public is learning to see through these hate campaigns.
Check out Pipes’ website:http://www.danielpipes.org/

hoopoe36

I, too, received the offensive DVD ‘Obsession. I can’t believe the Rocky/Post is so starved for revenue to distribute this hateful propoganda. It’s not just a product sample or ‘ad’; it’s a piece of political propaganda produced by anti-Muslim bigots. Does a box of cereal or a tube of toothpaste encourage me to look with hatred and suspicion on my law abiding neighbors who have a different religion than mine? Does cereal and toothpaste lead to pogroms, religious harassment, fear and intimidation? The trailer for this video is about hate, pure and simple, and shows the video has only one goal – to instill fear and hatred of neighbor against neighbor.
It’s partially the work of hate-monger Daniel Pipes, who runs one of the most rabidly anti-Muslim websites on the internet. He’s a neocon and hardcore Zionist and can hardly be called an evangelical. The DVD also credits Alan Dershowitz, apologist for Bush administration torture, a neocon and Zionist whose book, ‘The Case for Israel’, was exposed by Norman Finkelstein, as full of lies and distortions. Finkelstein subsequently was denied tenure at his university, mostly due to an orchestrated smear campaign led by Dershowitz himself.
In the context of the current election, the DVD can be seen as an attempt to move the swing state vote in the direction of McCain. However, one day after his acceptance speech in Denver, Obama engaged in a nauseating display of fealty to AIPAC, Israel’s main lobbying group in the US. I personally see this DVD, in addition to its immediate election purposes, is an attempt to stir up widespread paranoia about the Muslim world in support of a campaign for military action against Iran. In this regard, it is as pernicious as the lies of the Bush administration regarding Iraq leading up to that war. I can only hope the American public is learning to see through these hate campaigns.
Check out Pipes’ website:http://www.danielpipes.org/

cat

I too received this DVD and took it for what it was meant to do, to make us aware that RADICAL Muslims are amongst us and to BE AWARE of their intentions. The above reactions are the same as saying people who are against ILLEGAL immigrants are ANTI immigration and screaming racists. Twisting the meanings does not help to solve the problem. This DVD is in no way anti-Muslim, it is anti-terrorist.

DUH.

cat

I too received this DVD and took it for what it was meant to do, to make us aware that RADICAL Muslims are amongst us and to BE AWARE of their intentions. The above reactions are the same as saying people who are against ILLEGAL immigrants are ANTI immigration and screaming racists. Twisting the meanings does not help to solve the problem. This DVD is in no way anti-Muslim, it is anti-terrorist.

DUH.

Phineas T. Bluster

I sat the Dem convention out in a cave. So I don’t know what was said at Invesco. But there’s nothing in Goldman’s letter that I haven’t heard from Obama at one time or another.

Phineas T. Bluster

I sat the Dem convention out in a cave. So I don’t know what was said at Invesco. But there’s nothing in Goldman’s letter that I haven’t heard from Obama at one time or another.

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